Michael Avenatti, lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, speaks to reporters outside federal court in Los Angeles Monday, Dec. 3, 2018. He said that demands by lawyers for President Donald Trump for legal fees amounting to nearly $800,000 for filing a failed defamation lawsuit against him were "absurd and outrageous." Trump attorney Charles Harder told a federal judge in Los Angeles Monday that his firm put in more than 500 hours on the case. Daniels alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006. She sued him after he dismissed her claims of being threatened to keep quiet about the tryst as a "total con job."

(AP Photo/Brian Melley)

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1 week ago

Avenatti agrees to give up assets to estranged wife

The Associated Press — By AMANDA LEE MYERS - Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Avenatti has agreed to turn over to his estranged wife a corporate jet, Ferrari and other assets as part of their divorce settlement.

Orange County Judge Carol Henson on Tuesday accepted the agreement stipulating that some of Avenatti's assets be liquidated and sold for back child and spousal support. He also must pay at least $80,000 to Lisa Storie-Avenatti by Jan. 2.

Avenatti, who represents porn star Stormy Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump, previously agreed to pay Storie-Avenatti more than $150,000 a month in child and spousal support.

Among the assets Avenatti is turning over are a 2017 Ferrari GT Spider, five watches including a Rolex that retails for $12,000, a sculpture by famed architect Frank Gehry and a six-seat business jet worth millions.

Avenatti stressed that development was an agreed-upon deal as part of his divorce proceedings. He said he and his ex-wife came to an agreement, known as a stipulation, in which certain assets would be transferred to her and she would sell them. The court then approved the deal.

"This was done by way of a negotiated consensual agreement. I wasn't ordered to do anything," he said.

The 47-year-old Avenatti announced Tuesday that he's not running for president following a couple tumultuous weeks for the attorney, who has been a scathing Trump critic.

Avenatti was arrested on Nov. 14 on a felony domestic violence charge stemming from allegations he roughed up a girlfriend. Prosecutors declined to bring felony charges against him in the case, but they are still investigating whether he should face a misdemeanor charge. Avenatti has vehemently denied wrongdoing.

On Monday, Trump's attorneys asked a judge for nearly $800,000 in attorneys' fees and penalties from Daniels for her failed defamation lawsuit, which was filed by Avenatti. Daniels has appealed the decision tossing the lawsuit, and Avenatti has said he expects to prevail at a higher court.

Avenatti tweeted that he made the decision not to run for president in 2020 at the urging of his family, and if not for their concerns, he would go for it.

Daniels has said she had an affair with President Donald Trump in 2006, a claim Trump denies.